RIFLE AMMUNITION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27079, 13 May 1949, Page 10

RIFLE AMMUNITION

SEVERAL COMPLAINTS SCARCITY CONTINUES Ammunition for .22 rifles is just as scarce in Dunedin as it has been for some time. A small shipment is expected soon from the Auckland manufacturers but, unless it is severely rationed, it will be cleared off the shelves quickly. . Riflemen in Otago have many complaints to make about the small amount of ammunition they obtain. A city gunsmith explained that on some boxes it was stated specifically that the ammunition was not suitable for automatic rifles. He said that the extraction difficulties were caused by the variations in the shells, and difficulties in the working of repeating mechanisms were caused by the variations in the shape of the shells and their differing expansions. The gunsmith added that there were not any more mis-fires now than in the past. All makes of rifle ammunition had given some mis-fire trouble since a variation of standards became apparent with the introduction of smokeless powder to .22 ammunition. Before the recent war, there were six prominent brands of riflle ammunition on the market in New Zealand. To-day there was only one brand on the market at a time. Whenever in the past stocks had been down to fewer than two or three different brands, there had been trouble. One brand of ammunition might suit a particular rifle while another would not.

Variations in the brass itself caused the trouble with shells, it was explained. There were different degrees of hardness in each lot of brass from which the various shells were made, and each lot of brass was found to “spring” to a different degree when under the die.

“The cartridges now on the market are suffering from teething' trouble,” one gunsmith said. “ They will be be right in time." The price of rifle ammunition has also been the subject of comment. One example of the increase was given yesterday. In 1938, a box of 50 long-rifle hollow-point ammunition cost 2s; today it cost 4s sd. or 4s 6d, according to the brand

Inquiries made by the Daily Times in the city yesterday reveal that shotgun cartridges are in reasonable supply. The stocks of long-range cartridges have been exhausted. Dealers anticipated a big demand for the 12guage 23 cartridges, but the demand proved unusually heavy, exceeding by far the orders placed.